I ♥ 2005: Day 6: Well, Shall We Begin, Children?

Dec 6, 2005 · 1 minute read

Hilary Duff — Wake Up

You. Yes, you at the back. Less of it.

Just listen to how it sounds; that little bubbly synth at the beginning; Debbie Gibson by way of Kim Wilde’s Kids In America fed through ProTools and coming out blindingly shiny. That rainbow effect that slides through the bridge. The way that even despite the use of Autotuner, The Duff can’t quite reach the notes for “Hollywood and Vine”, giving the chorus a fragile tint. And let’s not forget the Vanilla Sky / Abre Los Ojos-esque whisper of “wake up” running through the song.

The lyric is also smarter than it seems. The first verse is all “woe is me…I’m a fabulous pop star and I HAVE PROBLEMS!” But after the chorus, the singer realises that nobody else is doing much better, and then finally, the song ends with the thought of “well, this is pretty fantastic, actually”. Not Tolstoy, but it’ll do.

Much better than that Kelly Clarkson rubbish anyway.